Where In The World Is Lloyd Ninja?
by Ella Master of Imagination
Summary: Lloyd Ninja is the most wanted thief in the world. However, he and his team know of a bigger threat...a threat called Darkly's. Of course there also happens to be a perfectly legal agency that's job is to hunt down Darkly's. When their paths cross, can they figure out the truth behind where Lloyd comes from...or is his history too far buried?
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Hello! I own Nothing! This is the general disclaimer for the whole thing. I recently got into Carmen San Diego and this is the result of that. I really really hope you all enjoy this story and will leave reviews!**_

_**Another thing: This will be an aged up Au for some Characters. Mainly Brad and Gene, also known as Lloyd's old classmates in Darkley's School for Bad Boys. Just so that you know that. I guess in a way I also aged up Lloyd, but he is still the youngest one there.**_

_Ella_

Chapter One: The Heist of the Canteen...

It was dark and quiet in the city. Everything was perfectly normal, minus the overly eager, overweight cop and his new partner that were patrolling in the city. The cop had brown hair that was combed back, and determined brown eyes, while his younger new partner had long silvery blonde hair pulled back in a pony tail and gentle blue eyes, looking over a data-pad in her hand.

The older cop muttered to himself, his thick French accent filling the air. "Tonight is the night! Tonight, I, Agent Dareth von Brown, will catch the elusive ninja thief known as Lloyd Ninja!"

"Are you even sure that he will strike here, sir?" His new partner arched her eyebrow upwards, not finding anything about the ninja-like thief that was plaguing the entire planet's M.O.

"Ah, Miss Pixal, you are new to this...just sit back and watch the professional do this." Dareth waved her off, ignoring her feedback.

~Meanwhile on the Rooftops of the City...~

A falcon spun almost lazily through the night sky, its eyes scanning the scenery below. A flash of green caught its attention briefly, right before a young man wearing a bright green turncoat and a bright green hat that covered his entire head showed up. Standing still, he scanned the area in front of him, breathing in deeply. The Eiffel Tower was glowing brightly not far where he was at, even as he waited for something...something that only he knew about.

_"Hello virtual Paris! Don't you all look lovely tonight?" _A deep humorous voice with a British accent suddenly filled the man's ear.

A small smile crossed his face as he knelt down to look across the rooftops. "Where's my target, Z?"

A chuckle filled his ear, before the voice spoke again, now all serious. _"Two miles straight. Can't miss it."_

"Two miles uh? Think I can handle that..." The man stood up and sprinted to the edge of the roof, leaping off at the last minute, his feet pounding into the next one. Running at full speed, he tore across the roofs, only using the light from the full moon and stars to light his way. Landing easily on a roof, he walked over to the skylight on it. "Is this the place?"

_"Yes... you might want to be careful from here on out. Don't know what kind if traps are in place." _

Crouching down, the young man pulled out a screwdriver, which he then used to carefully remove the screws. Once he was sure that was done, He lifted the skylight out and placed it to the side. Pulling out a long rope, he tied one end to the edge of the skylight, before tossing the rest of it down to the floor below. Swallowing hard, he swung himself down, grabbing the rope and quickly lowered himself to the floor. Once there, he walked over to the fireplace that was in the room, scanning the area for something.

"Hey icicle? I think your information is wrong. There's nothing here." He scoffed loudly as he ran his finger over the dust covered mantle.

_"I am never wrong. Look for a lever of sorts. There must be a hidden safe in there somewhere. And don't call me that, Greenie."_

A snort escaped the man, before he began to twist and pull on everything on and near the mantle. Eventually, a chandelier near the mantle twisted to the side, making the fireplace to shift off to the side to reveal that there was a safe hidden behind it. "Bingo." Whipping out a small green disk, he pressed it into the door.

_"Ok...I'm almost in... give me one more minute...there!" _The disk blinked gold once, before the safe door swung open.

Peering into the safe, which was full to the brim with good loot, he latched eyes on the most prized item in there. A centuries old scroll with a riddle and picture to demonstrate on it that was, well, centuries old. Twisting around, he went to go into the safe when he noticed something else...something that made him freeze in surprise. "I don't believe it... I thought I would never see this again." He walked out of the safe, towards on of the glass cabinets, bending down to get a better look at something in there, a grin similar to that of a child left alone in a candy store spreading across his face.

_"Kid? What do you see...and is it even more valuable than the Scroll of the Green Ninja?" _A new voice cut in, annoyance edging it.

The man smiled tightly, even as he titled his hat up and away from his face, revealing that he was just a teenager. "Depends. I certainly think so."

_"Kai, get back to your station...Lloyd you need to get out of there now! The police just arrived on scene." _The first voice with the British accent cut in, now barking out orders.

Snapping his head up, he looked back at the ancient scroll, before making his mind up on what he was going to do. "I have a train to catch in five. Think you can get me a ticket?"

_"Sure...hold on let me see if Nya can help out with that..." _The first voice sounded relieved that he was using his head and getting out o there before anything else could happen.

….

Lloyd glanced back briefly to see that Dareth was still giving him chase. Shaking his head at him, he jumped off a building, activating the mechanical wings he wore under his coat. Zooming through the air, he aimed for the train station that the incoming train right below him was headed for. "How's the ticket coming along Z?"

_"Check your phone. You should have something there any second now..." _A feminine voice responded, the sound of a keyboard clicking in the background slipping through the earpiece that he wore.

Letting go of the controls with one hand, he pulled out a simple pitch black with a green and gold case smart phone. Powering it on, he watched as an online ticket for the train appeared on the screen. "Sweet. Thanks guys."

_"Your welcome." _The first voice and the feminine voice spoke in perfect unison.

Landing in the crowded train station, he silently moved to where the train was now loading new passengers on. Flashing his phone to the ticket master, he slipped onto the train. Once he was away from the crowd, he began to scan for the room that matched the number on his ticket, even as the train began moving again. Finally he came upon the match amongst the other first class rooms. "Ah, guys you shouldn't have. First class? That's totally sweet."

_"Yeah, well, you deserved it kiddo." _It was the feminine voice that spoke this time.

Lloyd hummed, even as he slipped inside, closing the door behind him. Sinking down in the empty velvet covered seat, he couldn't help it. A grin crossed his face. This was a nice reprise for now. Just then, the door slide open and an older teen walked in. He was slightly taller than Lloyd, and had thick black hair that was a disaster and dark cold brown eyes.

Lloyd stood up, slipping into a defensive position, even as the newcomer lifted up a strange device and fired it at him, hitting his hand. Lloyd bit back a yelp from the sting that caused, before calmly speaking into the earpiece. "Yeah... I think I need some back up now Z." Silence filled the air as his British friend didn't respond to him. Alarmed, he tried again. "Z? Z you there?"

Chuckling, the newcomer leveled the device at him. "Sorry. Electronic Disabler. You're new _friend_ can't help you now."

Lloyd took a tentative step back, eyeing him thoughtfully. "Why are you doing this Brad? I thought we were friends?"

Brad scoffed, before flopping down on the velvet across from him. "Yeah, I know. I thought I knew you...but know all of this. The fighting against us... extravagant name...even the bright bold colors. I don't know if I ever knew you. What happened to Slip Star?"

A snort escaped the younger boy as he sat back down, eyeing his old friend. "Oh...I'm still me...I'm just more me than I've ever been in a long time."

Brad scoffed as he looked out the window, before lowering his device, glancing at him from the side. "You have till we get to the next stop to tell me your story. Your side of things if you will."

Lloyd rolled his eyes skyward, a scoff escaping him. "Don't have much of a past to tell you. Anything specific that you want to know? Or should I tell you everything there is to know?" Sarcasm dripped from his voice, startling his companion.

Surprise flashed across Brad's face as he stared at him. "Was that sarcasm? Since when did you know sarcasm?"

Lloyd crossed his arms, a scowl crossing his face. "There's a lot about me that you don't know about me. And yeah, that happened in the past years we've been apart."

"Of course it was... I would like to know everything since you are quite the enigma, Slip Star." Brad crossed his own arms as he looked down at the younger boy.

"Do you even know what that means...or were you told to use it?" Pausing, Lloyd took a deep breath, realigning his memories. "I guess to begin with...I didn't exactly have a child hood..."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: The Heist of the Phone...

Lloyd stared out of the window, his face nearly blank. "You see I was found as a baby by one of the Councilmembers, never was told which one, clear in the middle of the Endless Sea of Sand, with only an old canteen as a memento. I was then taken and raised by them on Darkley's Isle. You would think I was scared being so close to so many criminals, but actually I felt rather safe there. We were a family of sorts. As the only child there I got away with a lot of stuff that others wouldn't have gotten away with. Mainly pranking Cryptor. Somehow, I always believed that Pythor was the one that had found me. He always was protecting me from the others and we were close, very close." Lloyd closed his eyes, a small smile on his face. "One day when I pranked Cryptor, I was able to steal his phone. As you very well know, that was against school rules. Not that it mattered to me. I placed it inside of the canteen that I was found with, my only real treasure chest of stolen goods."

"That's why you never liked it when someone would touch it. You had stolen items in there that you stole yourself." Brad started, surprised to get an answer to something as mundane as whether or not he allowed people to touch a beat up canteen.

"Yes. Now years passed, and I just kept it there, never told anyone that I had it. Then one day, something amazing happened. It rang. I answered it, and began to have a conversation with the guy on the other end, a fellow that called himself Z."

~Flashback~

_A much younger Lloyd hesitantly picked up the cellphone. Pushing the talk button on it, he moved it to his ear. "Hello?"_

_"I am impressed. The firewalls on your phone is quite extensive. What exactly are you hiding?" An unfamiliar voice that soon would be very familiar politely asked over the line._

_"I'm not hiding anything." Lloyd felt offended that he would even suggest that. This guy didn't know anything about him! "We're not allowed to have phones were I'm at."_

_"And where exactly are you?"_

_"School." Lloyd didn't feel the need to elaborate, it was sort of true._

_"What kind of school doesn't allow phones?" Lloyd struggled to come up with a believable answer, even as the stranger decided to change topics. "I would love to know who it is I have the privilege to be speaking to?"_

_"Name's Slip Star." Lloyd gave him the only name he ever knew._

_"Slip Star? Ah yes. Secret Identities. I can play along with that. You may call me Z."_

_Lloyd rolled his eyes, even though he was now more determined than ever to join the school..._

_….._

_Lloyd presented his case to the councilmembers. They all voted to let him become the youngest student ever...except for Scales. Scales had never been particularly close to Lloyd so his doing that was no surprise. Finally came the time to meet the other new recruits..._

~End of Flashback~

"You can skip ahead if you like. I already know how this went." Brad dismissed the next part of Lloyd's story.

"Not from my viewpoint you haven't." Lloyd snapped back, startling Brad.

~Flashback~

_A younger Brad with Lloyd and a few others were attending classes now, though Lloyd was constantly slipping away to talk to Z on the phone. One time Brad nearly caught him, in which Z, who was still talking like a proper gentleman and not a world class hacker, questioned him on who it was. "Just my best friend. Brad. I better get going. Don't want to be late for Infiltration One oh One."_

_…..._

_Lloyd lead the others into a premature prank against Cryptor, which lead them to being presented in front of the council. Brad spoke up, making all of them sound responsible as it became increasingly obvious that Scales wanted to use this as a chance to get Lloyd expelled. Pythor blinked, before looking over at the others. "We can't just expel the whole lot of them now can we?"_

_A few minutes later, a teen with auburn hair and extremely annoyed almost black eyes behind wireframe glasses glared at Lloyd. "Detention? What are we? Kindergartners?"_

_"Knock it off Gene." Brad stopped him from getting up and punching Lloyd, annoyance flashing in his eyes. "How about we talk about something more useful. Like I don't know... codenames?"_

_"I already have mine." Lloyd smirked, earning him a quick slap on the arm from Brad._

_"Yeah...we know. Lucky you Slip Star. We don't though. So there."_

_…..._

_Finally the day they were all anxiously for arrived. Finals. Everything went well... until Scales class. After watching Gene succeed successfully in removing a single dollar bill from Scales coat, it was Lloyd's turn..._

_When class was over with, he turned to complain to Brad. "I swear I hit every single one of those pockets."_

_"Hey...just cause you failed one exam doesn't mean that you won't graduate." Brad tried and failed to cheer up Lloyd._

_….._

_A few days later, the results of the tests were posted on a wall for everyone to see. Brad and Lloyd approached it together from behind the others, Lloyd feeling ridiculously nervous._

_Brad gave off a small oh oh when he read the sign, his face falling. Alarmed, Lloyd touched him on the shoulder. "What's wrong? Did you not pass?"_

_Brad sighed as he gestured to the wall. "Oh...no. I did pass. You on the other hand..."_

_Lloyd stared at horror at the sign, sure enough a large red x was right next to his name and picture, signaling that he had failed and would be repeating the next year. "No way..."_

~End of Flashback~

"After that happened, well. I snuck off to join you on your first caper. After learning that Darkley's wasn't below killing innocents though... I had to do something. My phone, my only link to the outside world, was taken away from me. But this time... I had a plan in mind. And I was never going back. When Cryptor came back on time to deliver the hard-drive, I was ready for him. I stole my phone back and called Z, told him the truth this time around. And used all of my training to pull a switch and bait with the hard-drive and a box of tools. I fled that night and escaped out into the world."

Brad glanced out the window, noting that they were quickly approaching the station. "Where you then took on a new name for yourself. Look...Slip Star. I am under orders to bring you back to the isle to reinstate you as a member of Darkley's. They're giving you a second chance."

"Funny. I always wanted to reunite with you...but I also always wanted it to be for my side of things." Lloyd stood up, even as green energy suddenly crackled to life in his hands. "That and its Lloyd now... Slip Star is dead."

"Wait...you're controlling..." Brad backed away nervously, eyeing the energy covering Lloyd's hands.

"I've changed Brad...changed for the better. And yeah...I can control my powers now." Lloyd then flung an energy ball at him faster than he could blink.

….

Lloyd leaned back casually on the speedboat, slipping his backpack off to open it. _"So what did you steal that was more valuable that an ancient scroll that everyone's been talking about for the last three hundred years." _Kai questioned Lloyd over the phone as the boat rocked violently.

"Depends on the beholder if it is valuable or not..." Lloyd pulled out his old beat up canteen. Glancing over his shoulder, he noticed another speedboat following him. "Hey! Cole! Think you can lose some tails?"

"What kind of tails are we talking about?" A short, stocky man with black hair swept back and piercing dark brown eyes hollered back from the boat's driver's seat.

"Try the kind that most likely will arrest us." Lloyd informed him as he slipped out of his seat and approached his friend.

Cole wrinkled his nose as he slammed the thing into full gear. "You know that Nya would be better at this than me...right?"

"Yeah...I know. But I needed her to help Z. Jay, are you in position?" Lloyd pressed his hand against his earpiece, waiting for confirmation.

"Get past the big carrier ship and we're good to go she said...didn't mention anything about us being chased!" Cole muttered under his breath as he shot the little boat past the much larger carrier ship, even as it was turning to block the passageway.

Once that was done, Cole pulled up next to the ship and honked his horn. "Jay! Get down here!"

A minute later, a much smaller guy with auburn hair and electric blue eyes leapt of the ship and onto their small boat. "Sweet! Let's go go go!" Jay, who had a Australian accent, bounced slightly as he sat down next to Lloyd.

Lloyd smiled tightly, even as he decided that it was probably a good thing that he hadn't mentioned a certain thing about his new team. He wasn't the only freak out there in the world... and they make for some great teamwork...

**A/N: Hi there! This is Skyla Talon...yeah. Last week we had some issues with our A/N and hopefully this week we won't. Before you ask, this is a cowrite. Ella is a pretty good author if I say so...that doesn't have as many stories as me so you can see why we are posting it on her account. So yeah. Hope you enjoyed this little snippet...and please turn in again next week!**

**Review!**

**SkyTalon**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Heist of the Fireworks...

Lloyd flopped unceremoniously into one of the large private jet's comfy chairs, a sigh escaping him. "That could have gone better."

"Ya think?" A young, slightly older teen with spiky auburn hair and dark hazel eyes demanded as he stretched in his seat.

A young female teen leaned over and whacked him, before turning to face Lloyd. "You were almost caught Lloyd...and now we have a new tail that is following us."

Cole grumbled indistinguishably under his breath, even as Jay sat down next to another teen that had stiff looking, snowy white hair and bright blue eyes. The new teen also had rather pale skin. Lloyd ran his fingers through his hair, his face tight. "Yeah...I know. And I was just saying that we need to..."

"Let me join?" A much younger teen, with tan skin and copper colored hair and the exact same blue eyes as the blonde suddenly popped up from behind the area set up like an computer office.

"Echo!" The blonde teen whirled around to glare at him.

Echo slunk off, a whine escaping him. "I wanna help Zane!"

Zane pinched the bridge of his nose, annoyance flaring briefly across his features. "And the answer is still no...you are too young."

"Lloyd is only a year older than me...and Nya is two years older than him! Why can't I help?" Echo gestured first at the ringleader, and then at the only female in the group.

Nya rolled her eyes, even as spiky hair crossed his arms in a huff. "Come on Echo...you know perfectly well why you aren't allowed on missions...and it ain't your age."

Echo sighed, before turning to face him. "Why does the fact that I don't have powers have to affect that decision Kai?"

Kai leaned forward, his eyes flashing with worry, his confident smirk vanishing. "It matters because we are dealing with a group of people that won't hesitate to kill you if they get so much as half a chance."

Echo winced, glancing over at his older brother. Zane nodded his head solemnly in agreement with what Kai had said. Nya walked back over to where Zane was sitting, leaning over as she quickly pulled something up. "Next stop is in Indonesia. Looks like they have a secret lab there...well it was secret until I hacked into the information."

Zane hummed as he quickly pulled up some information on that country. "Since we are dealing with islands...that will mean a lot of water, so Nya. You are Lloyd's second for this one."

"Sweet." Nya nodded in understanding.

"And who is his third this time around?" Kai crossed his arms, a frown crossing his face at the thought that his little sister was going to go into a slightly potential dangerous situation.

Zane hummed as he glanced up at him. "I was thinking you. Unless you have a problem with that. The weather there is labeled hot and humid. Thus, Nya will work best there...BUT there isn't really anyone else that'll have an advantage. Jay and Cole were his second and third last time, so they cannot go. However it has never snowed there, so I will stand out like a sore thumb."

"Got it." Lloyd, Kai, and Nya spoke in unison.

~Meanwhile with Dareth and Pixal~

"I will find Lloyd Ninja if it is the last thing that I do!" Dareth muttered under his breath as he leaned forward.

Pixal shook her head, her green eyes glowing with concern. "Sir...it is late. Perhaps we should reconvene later?"

"No! I will not give up...I will be the one to finally catch Lloyd Ninja!" Dareth waved his arms around wildly, in an attempt to prove his point.

~Back with the Friends~

Kai parked the jeep, eyeing the thick foliage that surrounded the large not at all hidden secret lab. Lloyd pulled on his bright green turncoat and matching hat. Nya shook her head as she waved a hand in front of her to fan herself off. "Seriously Lloyd? It's like a hundred degrees out here!"

Lloyd smirked, similarly to Kai, as he pulled back the coat to reveal that it was filled with gadgets. "A ninja needs his gadgets."

Kai and Nya glanced at each other, before Kai shrugged and slipped to the front door. Pushing the doorbell, he lifted up an empty pizza box up to the security camera that was watching the front door. "Pizza delivery!"

Lloyd and Nya both slapped their faces, even as they waited for a response. When none came, Kai pushed forcefully pushed the door open, tossing the box into the empty garbage can that was next to the door. "April Fool's!" Kai hollered as the box thudded loudly into the trash.

Lloyd shook his head, before slipping away. He scanned the area, a frown crossing his features. "They knew we were coming and closed shop. We're not gonna find anything here."

"Great...and Cole cooked last night so I am starving. Ooh...rice bowl!" Kai grabbed a petri-dish filled with rice.

"Kai! Don't eat that!" Nya snagged the dish away, already scanning it with her eyes. "That's a petri-dish. Which doesn't make any sense for them to have rice on there...unless..." She grabbed a nearby microscope and shoved the dish underneath it, twisting the knobs to zoom in closer. "Thought so. There is some kind of rice eating fungi covering these grains of rice."

"Why are they making rice eating fungi? That makes no sense whatsoever." Kai whined as he crossed his arms.

Lloyd narrowed his eyes as he strode over to where they were at, leaning in to look at the fungi. "When I was younger, they had created imitation rice. It was, well, vile tasting. Indonesia main staple food is rice. There will be a great famine if they lose their crops to this!"

"Great. Now we know what they are planning on doing. What's the plan?" Nya folded her arms, left eyebrow shooting upwards.

Lloyd smiled mischievously as he straightened up. "We level the playing fields a bit." He glanced back at the dish, his face hardening suddenly. "They won't know what hit them..."

…..

Gene titled his head to the side as he heard a soft thump, signaling that someone had landed on the roof of the truck that the one janitor was driving. "Give me a sec... I have an old friend to say hi to." Unbuckling, he climbed out the window and onto the moving truck's roof. He walked purposefully to the crouching green clad figure that was attempting to break into the back of the truck.

Reaching over he placed a hand on the green clad shoulder...and was promptly thrown hard onto his back. A gasp escaped him as he looked up to see an...older teen that was most definitely not Lloyd. Kai clenched his fist as he eyed the idiot that had just tried to take him out. Shaking his head slightly, he went and got into his defensive position, a small smirk crossing his features. "Stand down kid. You have no idea what you are getting into here."

"What?! You're not Lloyd Ninja!" Gene backed up, startled at the appearance of a new guy, to him.

"Nope...I'm, Kai the last guy you want to fight. Nice to meet you!" Kai punched him in the face, even as they hit a rough spot of road, forcing him to jump off.

Gene slipped back to the cab of the truck, slamming his fist into the window to get the driver's attention. "Get to the fireworks display now!"

…..

Lloyd jerked on the steering wheel, pressing his foot down on the gas button even as Kai leapt back into the backseat. "Good job Kai. Gene totally freaked out and Nya was able to get the information we needed. As he spoke, a surge of water shot out of the river they were driving past and landed neatly in the passenger seat. The water dissolved to reveal that it was Nya.

"Fireworks display... I recommend we hurry if we want to stop them." Nya grabbed the buckle and buckled herself in.

Kai nodded, before mumbling to them. "I peeked. The have green fireworks in there. Green goes for a swim...the rest go for a nice long flight."

…..

Lloyd sighed with relief. He just fought a rather difficult battle with Gene, which he won at the last minute. Nya and Kai had removed the green fireworks. When Gene tried to light the fireworks early, Kai raised his hand out to him and distinguished the flame. Let's just say someone was not happy about that.

"Come on guys. Time to head home...Zane made dinner." Lloyd pulled his hat low over his face even as the fireworks erupted in the sky.

"Sweet... I love it when its Zane's turn to cook." Kai cheered as he turned to follow Lloyd.

~Back with Dareth and Pixal~

Dareth groaned as he forced his eyes opened. Something had happened...he had passed out in the parking lot. Eyes widening in horror, he noticed two crisply dressed men standing near the only door to the room they were in. One was wearing red tinted sunglasses, and the other was wearing pitch black sunglasses and carrying some kind of musical instrument. Pixal was just stirring in the chair next to him.

Once they were both awake, one of the men, the one with the red sunglasses, dropped a pen to the floor. A minute later, a hologram of an older woman with long hair pulled back in a braid stood before them. "Greetings. You both are here because we need you're expertise. We are the Masters. That is all you need to know. You may call me Chief."

"What do we know that you need to know?" Pixal questioned softly.

"You know what Lloyd Ninja looks like." Chief firmly informed them.

"Hmm, you are after the infernal criminal Lloyd Ninja as well?" Dareth asked.

"You could say that. We are actually after an entire army of criminals. Darkley's. We believe that he knows something about them." Chief continued on as if he hadn't interrupted her.

"You think that Lloyd Ninja is their leader, no? Yes...yes. That makes perfect sense!" Dareth began to mumble to himself.

Chief sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Why would the leader of an entire army of ghosts be as visible as Lloyd Ninja?"

Dareth opened and closed his mouth, but couldn't find anything to say about that.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: Chase of the Great Tuna...

Lloyd swam through the warm water, checking his gears scanners for the millionth time. "You sure that the ship went down here Z?"

"Positive. If you haven't found it, then it must be somewhere around there. Keep looking. I'll take on the surface crew." Zane's voice crackled over the commlink, prompting a small smile from the young teen.

"Got it." Lloyd turned around a corner...and immediately caught his breath as he spotted a large wooden sunken ship lying on its side. In large print, the words _Black Bounty_ scrawled along the side. "Z? I just found it...now to see if the treasure onboard there is as priceless as everyone claims it is."

Lloyd swam over there, quickly prying loose the door to the hold. Swimming into the hold, he spotted the treasure chest that was covered in barnacles. Grasping it, he struggled to break the chain off for about five seconds before giving up and using his energy blast to blast it open. "That's one way to do that..." He mumbled to himself as he ruffled through the contents. "Nothing's here guys...no wait. There's a gold coin here. Yo Z? How much?" Lloyd held the gold coin up to his mask so that Zane could scan it easily.

"Not worth it. Definitely not Darkley's M.O. Pretty, but worthless." Zane sounded disappointed, which Lloyd could truthfully understand. They were trying to get ahead of them...and yet it was a dead end.

Lloyd sighed, and was about to pocket the coin when the ground began to shake. "Um...guys? What's going on here?"

"My scanners are picking up movement underground in your area..." "I recommend moving out of there...now kid!" Kai interrupted Zane, yelling into the commlink.

Lloyd pocketed the coin and quickly began swimming out of there. Only he hadn't gone too far when... a small form with dark, almost black skin, and black hair popped out from underneath him. Startled, Lloyd backed up a ways, the coin slipping out of his pocket having been improperly secured. "Mindroid's down here!" Lloyd yelled as he dove downwards to grab the coin.

"Mindroid? Isn't he Cryptor's runty nephew that is puny?" It was Cole's voice this time, his voice questioning him.

"Yeah that's the one..." Lloyd found himself holding his arm out to block him easily.

Mindroid, his real name was Marcus Drake, swam back a few paces, clearly infuriated that he was easily thwarted. Lloyd smirked as he flipped the coin...just as a giant tuna swam by, swallowing the coin. Both, Mindroid and Lloyd, darted through the waters, trying to catch up with it. A large fishing net, which was filled with giant tunas, caught the fish, hauling it out of the water. Whirling around, Lloyd took off back to the boat that he knew Jay and Nya were waiting for him on.

…...

"Bad news...they already sold the fish with the doubloon to some fish auction." Jay shoved his hands into his pocket, looking perfectly at ease in the summer's heat, his Australian accent reminding everyone around him that he was born and raised in a desert.

Nya shook her head, her ocean blue eyes sparkling with tension. "Part of me wants to say that Darkley's won't go after the doubloon...but they might have noticed that we were going after it and presume its valuable."

Lloyd nodded, leaning against one of the posts on the docks. "So...we need to get to some fish auction and locate a fish, which looks exactly like all the other fish there, to get a hold of an ancient gold doubloon that ain't worth much." He allowed sarcasm drip heavily from his voice. "That'll be the easiest thing we've ever done."

"Well then, good thing I am visiting here for this exact fish auction that you mentioned." A deep, male voice with a thicker British accent than Zane spoke up from behind him.

Lloyd sprang up, whirling around to look at an elderly man with pale skin that was a smidgen darker than Zane's, and the same bright blue eyes that the brothers had was standing right behind him. The man was wearing a white lab coat, and glasses perched on his nose. His white hair and a few gray streaks in it, and was splattered against his head. He was also holding a suspicious looking suitcase.

Jay bounced forward, his eyes sparkling with excitement. "Ooh, whatcha have in the suitcase this time Dr. Julian?"

Dr. Julian, genius and father of Zane and Echo, laughed heartily, before popping the suitcase open. "Metal scanners disguised as a couple of auction participation numbers on a stick. I don't know what they really are called. Zane said you might need them."

"Sweet!" Nya and Jay seized the items out of the suitcase. "Thank you Dr. Julian."

"No problem. And please thank Zane for letting me know. The fish auction is at the top of that mount over there." He pointed to a tall mountain that was in the distance.

….

Lloyd had barely closed the jeep's door behind him as he climbed out of the jeep at the top of the mountain, when it happened. Dizziness washed over him as he buckled over, his legs giving out underneath him... "Guys...something wrong..."

"Lloyd!" Nya and Jay launched forward in an attempt to catch him as everything went black.

…...

When Lloyd awoke fully for the first time, he was lying in a medical tent with someone he didn't recognize watching his every move. She had long orangish-red hair that was pulled back in a high ponytail, and was wearing an orange long sleeved shirt and worn out jeans. Her bright jade green eyes, which looked dull next to his brilliant emerald green eyes with gold flecks. A warm smile crossed her features as she held up a water bottle to him. "You're lucky that I came along when I did. You're friends don't know how to tend to elevation sickness."

"Yeah...thanks for the help. I've got to go now..." Lloyd rolled his shoulders, in an attempt to release the tension that had built up there. Snagging his bag, he flinched as his gadgets fell out and spilt all over the floor.

Her eyes narrowed as she glared at him. "You're a thief, aren't you?"

Lloyd licked his lip, swallowing hard. "No... I'm more like Robin Hood. I steal from thieves." He scooped his items up, looking her in the eye as he willed her to believe him.

She nodded, understanding flashing across her eyes. "I see. Well, I wish you luck with whatever your up to Robin Hood. I'll leave you to catch up with your Merry men now."

Lloyd couldn't decide if she was joking or not, so he settled on nodding and slipped out of there to find and help his friends. Besides, Kai was gonna kill him for not chaperoning the two lovebirds for however long he was out of it...

…..

Lloyd flipped the gold coin, which he had successfully succeeded in taking from Mindroid and his much taller twin brother, Nindroid, they look exactly the same despite the obvious height difference. Nindroid's real name was Nathan Drake, and he liked to join his dear uncle Cryptor in teasing Mindroid on his height. Turning to the teen that had tended to him while he was out of it, he tossed it to her. "Not worth much unless your really into history. Quite the treasure... I get the feeling that you might know someone into that kind of thing."

"Uh...aren't you into history?" Jay blinked in confusion as he stared at Lloyd in confusion.

Lloyd shrugged, before moving away from her. "I don't want to risk losing it...besides. I get the feeling that she'll enjoy it much more than me."

**A/N: Done! Um, yeah...last chapter the final scene was supposed to be the final scene for this chapter. Oopsie on my part. Anyways, thinking things over, the fact that it happened earlier doesn't change _when_ certain things happen that are of direct consequence to Dareth and Pixal being recruited. Also, did anyone recognize the two agents and Chief that recruited them? What about the person who helped Lloyd?**

**Hope you all enjoyed this little tidbit!**

**Review!**

**SkyTalon**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Stolen Paintings and _Snowmobiles_

Lloyd paced across the elite motel suite, waiting for Nya to return from her latest mission. Well, the first part of her latest mission. Getting herself noticed by one of the Darkley's leaders so as to get an invitation of the year to Krux's Auction of Stolen Goods. This time around, it was certain paintings done by a now deceased artist. She was retrieving the last one as they waited patiently in the motel room. Well, they were supposed to be waiting patiently. Lloyd was highly concerned over the fact that it was two hours past the time that she and Kai were supposed to get back.

Zane slipped into the hotel room, a frown crossing his features as he looked over at him. "They haven't returned yet?"

Lloyd shook his head no, while Cole crossed his arms. "Nope." He popped the p, his own head furiously shaking in response. "Taking it that Echo is with Dr. Julian for the school year?"

Zane nodded his in confirmation, as he sat down next to a very nervous Jay. "Yes. Weren't Kai and Nya supposed to be back two hours ago?"

"Ye..." "That was before I realized that I had a tail and had to leave sis behind to go lose it." Kai came barging into the room, his usual scowl a lot deeper than usual.

Nya came in from behind him, highly annoyed. "You could have at least sent me a text warning me that you had one and were leaving without me." She turned to face the others. "I had to call him to figure out where he was at!"

Lloyd snorted, before crossing his arms, this time out of smug confidence. "Now we just need to wait for one of his henchmen to show up." No sooner had the words left his mouth that someone knocked at the door.

"Sweet! That must be the sandwich that I ordered!" Cole jumped up, casually walking over to the door.

"Dirtclod! No!" The friends started to hurry over to stop him, but upon noticing that his hands were on the doorknob already, dove out of sight.

Cole opened the door to find a young man with a look of pure disdain on his face standing on the other end of the door. "I was told that there was someone known as the Duchess staying here."

"Uh... I'm the Duke. Finest... thief!... this side of...um... Ninjago!" Cole puffed up his chest in pride, unaware that Lloyd slapped his forehead upon hearing him splutter that sentence out.

"I see... is this the painting of the Lady in Blue?" He peered curiously at the painting that Nya had somehow sat down on the coffee table without anyone knowing.

"Of course...she is wearing a very...blue outfit?...after all!" Cole leaned against a chair, reaching down behind it to clap his hand over Jay's mouth to keep him from yelling at him about how that was his ancestor and some random facts about the lady in the painting.

"Yes she is... I'll just take this off of your hands now..." The henchman reached for the famous painting.

"No!" Cole stepped forward, his grasp curling tightly around his wrist. "I want to make the sell to your boss in person. I mean really, protocol indicates that it is highly irregular for a successful business man to operate through a mere servant when making a business deal with a new client. It must be done in person." All uncertainty had left his voice, making it firm and in charge.

The henchman took a step back, pulling out a small cell phone. Pushing a button on it, he placed it by his ear. "Ah sir. I have come across the Painting of the Lady in Blue. However it is in the possession of a teen that calls himself the Duke. He says he'll only sell it to you if he can meet you in person." Silence stretched out as everyone waited for baited breath for the extremely critical response from Krux. "Of course. I'll let him know sir." He hang up the phone and turned to face Cole again. "A ride will come to pick you up at three o'clock sharp. Krux will have you for dinner."

"Wonderful. Please let me so you on your way out..." Cole gestured to the door.

The second that the henchman was out, the friends scrambled out of hiding, Jay snagging a pillow and slamming it into his best friend. "What was that about?! Are you out of your mind?!"

"No... I'm sorry greenie. I just messed everything up..." Cole hung his head in defeat.

Lloyd rubbed his chin, a thoughtful expression on his face. "No no. I don't think you've messed anything up so far. In fact, you probably just helped us out."

"How did I help you out?" Cole gave him a weird look.

Nya nodded slowly, understanding dawning on her features. "The fact that as the daughter of a poor Blacksmith, I will need a crash course on high society etiquette. However, as the son of a famous singer...you were raised in high society and already know everything. You'll make for a great distraction."

"Then if it is a distraction that you need...its a distraction that you get!" Cole puffed out his chest, excitement dancing in his eyes.

…..…..

Cole wondered what his luck was that within seconds of Lloyd hissing through the earpiece that Cole was wearing that he needed extra time, that Dareth would show up making a big deal of Lloyd Ninja being here of all places. _I guess luck really is on our side. Now then...if only he'll back away from me long enough for me to escape!_ As if to answer his silent pleas, a snow mobile shot past with a hunched over figure wearing a familiar green hat and coat.

"Lloyd Ninja!" Dareth tore out of the room, leaving Krux and his guests and one spy sitting alone.

Krux stood up his face pinched tightly in a frown. "I am sorry. The auction is canceled. Everyone please leave. I am sorry for this inconvenience."

Ten minutes later, Krux frowned as he tried to figure out what was wrong. "Something is amiss here..."

"Um sir? The Duke wasn't with the rest of the guests when they left?" One of his henchmen shifted uneasily behind him.

Narrowing his eyes, Krux spun around. "I need to check on the safe..."

…..

Dareth shivered, wondering vaguely where that blizzard came from. Pixal shook her head, crossing her arms as she peered over at him. "Sir...there is no blizzard. Honestly. You mistook a tourist on a snowmobile for Lloyd Ninja and now you are shivering due to a little bit of snow."

"Oh come on! There was a blizzard!"

**A/N: Done! And cause we had an interesting goof in the middle of our typing...we have a little bonus here!**

**SkyTalon _Ella_**

~With Zane and Jay as they wait for the signal to distract everyone~

"Ok so when the signal is given, you use this um...forgot what it is called... the speed skier thing... to zoom past the dining hall window." Jay gestured wildly to the bright red vechile that Zane was sitting on.

Zane shot his left eyebrow upwards, amusement dancing in his eyes. "Don't you mean snowmobile?"

"Yeah that!"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six: Operas and Rocket ships

Lloyd winkled his nose as he stood in front of the Sydney Opera House. "Do I want to know _why_ we are here?"

Cole grimaced as he tugged at his tie. "I already told you. Dad is playing Don Jose in tonight's performance. And he wants me to be there."

"Don't hear anything that says I have to be here. See ya!" Lloyd spun around to leave the place.

"Zane may or may not of noticed Darkly's presence in this area." Cole continued as if Lloyd hadn't made to leave. "More specifically the Sydney Opera House."

"Why didn't you just start with that?!" Lloyd demanded as he turned around to rejoin his friend. He paused as a thought crossed his mind. "Wait...Uncle Lou isn't expecting me to actually watch the opera, is he?"

Cole chuckled to himself as he paused in what he was doing. "No... honestly, he is expecting me to fall asleep the second the music starts. He only wants to know that I at least came."

"Good. Operas are boring...now then Cliff Gordan's new movie release is coming up..." Lloyd rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

Cole rolled his eyes as he pulled out two tickets...one was a normal ticket while the other was a backstage pass. "Here... Dad was able to get you this so that you could get backstage. Told everyone that it was for his dearest nephew. But none for his own son. I feel cheated somehow." Cole grinned as he playfully nudged Lloyd. Lloyd nudged him back, a laugh escaping him. It hadn't been long after they had first met that Cole's father had insisted that Lloyd and the Smith Siblings refer to him as Uncle Lou. The three orphans decided to just roll with it, and highly enjoyed the attention he gave them.

"Come on. We need to get you seated...and me backstage." Lloyd rushed towards the entrance, this time he was doing the dragging instead of being the dragged. Cole rolled his eyes skyward, before pulling himself away and heading to his seat.

Lloyd slipped into the backstage, flashing his pass at the security officer. It was chaotic back there, people running back and forth as they prepared for the that night's performance. He scanned the darker areas, knowing that any Darkley's agents would be hiding there. An older version of Cole, wearing an extravagant costume, came rushing over to him. "Lloyd! You made it!" He tackled hugged the teen thief.

"Hey Uncle Lou. What's up?" Lloyd hugged his adoptive uncle back, a grin on his face as he soaked in the affectionate gesture. He never realized that he was craving such things, until he met up with his phone pals (yes, plural, Zane had it on speaker phone a couple of times while Lloyd was on the Isle...) in which their parents proved to be quite capable of giving him all of the affection that no one had bothered to give him in the first place.

"Nothing much. I hope that my son was able to make it...hmm?" Lou held Lloyd at arms length, scanning him for any signs of injuries.

"Probably getting himself comfortable so that he can fall asleep within the first ten minutes." Lloyd shrugged nonchalantly.

Lou barked out a laugh, hugging him again. "You give him too much credit. He'll fall asleep within the first ten _seconds_."

Lloyd grinned at that image, knowing that it was, unfortunately, true. Sort of. Cole might put up a convincing argument that he didn't like the classical music in his life, but seeing as it was his ringtone, he didn't have those close to him convinced. "Come on... I bet you're gonna do great, and he'll snap awake to watch you perform...and the second you're offstage, he'll fall back asleep."

"True that." Lou paused, before hugging him again. "I missed all of you. I was disappointed to hear that your siblings couldn't come tonight."

Lloyd hummed in agreement, though he knew that it wasn't a case of them avoiding Lou. Kai and Nya just had plans for tonight that they had planned on weeks in advance. Lou eventually left Lloyd to his own devices. Lloyd went back to scanning everywhere for any signs of his colleagues, while silently praying that he wouldn't find any. He didn't want Lou to get hurt cause they decided to attack here.

….

"You sure you had ran into Brad?" Jay asked nervously, his Australian accent seeming to be more noticeable in his nervous state.

"Positive! Only he didn't recognize me at all." Lloyd glanced out of the jeep's window, noting that he appeared to be confusing the guide that was driving the jeep.

Cole hummed to himself as he pulled one of his earbuds out. "Hey guys...what is that?" He pointed to a large rock that was rising up into view.

"That is the Uluru...also known as Ayers Rock. It is sacred to the Pitjantjatjara Anangu." Jay blurted out, gazing at it with some awe.

"You sure you need a tour guide? Your friend here is obviously from around this area." Their tour guide grumped as he eyed Jay with annoyance.

Jay shrugged, even as Zane called Lloyd. _"I have figured out what it meant by launch the Arcturus_. _A scientist by the name of Mr. Borg was there, and he is in the final stage of building a rocket that is named the Arcturus. If that thing is launched prematurely..."_

"It'll ruin Ayer's Rock. We thanks Z. Come on guys...we need to get to Borg Industries property. We've got a sacred rock to save." Lloyd glanced questioningly over at their guide.

"You guys aren't normal tourists...are you?" He asked as he pressed down on the gas, and pulled his steering wheel away from the normal road that tourists typically took.

"No... I'm the guy that steals from thieves and make sure that they don't ruin the lives of anyone else. And these are two of my partners." Lloyd gestured to his friends in the back seat.

"So...Robin Hood and his Merry Men?" He questioned casually.

"Yeah...You are the second person to point that out." Lloyd laughed, pleased that there were a few people out there that got him outside of his family.

"Just keep Uluru safe..." He tensely announced as he skidded to a halt in front of the private property.

~With Pixal and Dareth~

"Fascinating Father." Pixal beamed as she spoke to an older male that was resting in a wheelchair.

Dareth groaned, before glancing back at the door that lead to the outside world. "Can we just get going? What does it matter on what's going on with some rocket?"

No sooner had the words slipped out of his mouth, than the door banged open and two teens wearing lab coats over their clothes came running in. "Your rocket is a bomb!" "Don't listen to any opera!"

"What!?" Mr. Borg frowned, staring at them as if they were the crazy ones.

They stopped to catch their breaths, taking in deep breaths. The stockier of the two pulled something out, handing it to Mr. Borg. "Ninja Incorporated. We have intel indicating that someone wants to use your rocket as a bomb to take over the Outback. While you were attending the opera last night, they managed to hit you with some sort of mind control device. If you hear the exact song that you were listening to when it targeted you, then you will lose control and they will use you to launch the rocket."

"I see. If you don't mind my saying this, but Ninja Incorporated is known for always having their leader on the scene. Is it safe for me to presume that the Green Ninja is nearby?" Mr. Borg didn't blink an eye, leaving Dareth feeling confused. Particularly as he realized that Pixal wasn't confused about this conversation. Mr. Borg handed back the business card.

"He's in the control room. White has warned us to keep a close eye on him, since there is a good chance that he was hit by the ray too." He stuck his card back into his pocket.

No sooner had he done so, than the opera song began to play over the loud speakers. Both of the strange teens paused, titling their heads to the side quickly. "Right. I'll take the one in the basement. Black can take the one on sentry duty." The one in blue announced suddenly, glancing over at his partner.

"Blue's got a point. With his accent, the Darkley's member will just presume he is one of the employees here. Which ones are here anyways?" Black crossed his arms, arching one eyebrow upwards.

the casual mention of Darkley's caused Dareth to tense. Lloyd Ninja had to be here then... after all he was still sure that he was the leader of this mystery organization.

"The twins...got it." They spoke in perfect unison, cutting off Dareth's thinking process.

The two teens then run off to deal with the Darkley's members that they appeared to think was there. Pixal turned to face her father, immediately noticing a problem. "Dareth help me pin Father down so that he can't launch the rocket."

~Few Hours Later, With the Friends~

Lloyd ran his fingers through his hair as he stared unseeingly ahead of the others. Zane arched his eyebrow up as he peered at him. "Are you alright there?"

"Fine... why wouldn't I be alright? When was the last time anyone practiced?" Lloyd tried to change the topic, even though he was aware that his friends desperately wanted to talk about it.

"Not in awhile...listen kid...about today...?" Kai slowly tried to change back to the topic that they all wanted to discuss.

"We should practice. And there is nothing to talk about." Lloyd took a deep breath, his fingers twitching slightly. "I messed up...big time. I didn't listen to Z's concern and it almost cost Mr. Borg everything. It won't happen again. I'm the leader, I should have listened to him."

They stood up and stretched, following Lloyd to the indoor gym. If he wanted to train...they will train.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven: Rock Paper Scissors...

Lloyd sipped his juice through his straw, eyeing the museum in front of him. Cole was inside, getting the inside scoop from the head of security. Kai was nibbling on a sandwich, Nya using chopsticks to eat some Chinese food out of a container. Zane was drumming his fingers, his pet Falcon perched on his shoulder. "Should Jay be taking this long?"

"Probably has to stand in a long line. Chill out dude." Kai licked his lips, trying to sound more confident that he felt.

Nya lifted her chopsticks up, a piece of broccoli trapped between them. "You could always ask him what took him so long. Its not like he is running straight to us with the hot dogs he was buying."

Startled the friends turned to find Jay full out sprinting towards them. Gasping for breath, he stopped next to them, handing the one hot dog to Zane. "One sauerkraut dog. Sorry it took me so long. Apparently they didn't have any barbeque sauce or ranch!" As Jay spoke, he unwrapped his hot dog to reveal that it indeed have barbeque sauce and ranch drizzled over the top of it.

Kai wrinkled his nose as he leaned away from Jay. "You know..? I would expect Cole to like that...not you!"

Jay rolled is eyes, before taking a bite. Zane carefully unwrapped his hot dog, to reveal that it had sauerkraut stuffed into it. Biting into it, he chewed thoughtfully. "You know, this would be great for us if Lloyd is correct that Fangtom will be after the Magna Carta. Ninja Incorporated will be all over the news if we succeed in saving that."

"Zane." Lloyd's voice was sharp, and almost cold. "We cannot have that happen. We need to stick to the shadows to fight them. The government will pull our funding if we any happens that will make it hard for us to fight Darkley's."

"Sorry. But this is still good for us...right?" Zane still looked hopeful that they could use this to propel their agency forward some.

"Of course. We'll get a bonus if we manage to do this." Lloyd shrugged as if that made perfect sense.

The museum door banged open as Cole and the head of security came out of there. Cole turned to shake the man's hand, before walking at an almost run to the others. "We're in! We're in charge of the Museum security tonight."

"Sweet! Let's stop Darkley's in their path!" The friends high fived each other, grins crossing their faces.

~That Night...~

Lloyd crouched down, with a clear view of the Magna Carta. Of course, the museum was going to have problems if someone standing on top of their lights couldn't see the artifact. _"Everyone is in position. Any sign of Darkley's yet?" _Zane's voice crackled over the earpiece that Lloyd was wearing.

Lloyd lifted a pair of night binoculars to his eyes. Peering out, he shook his head. "Nope. Hang tight guys, I'm sure that someone will show..." A flicker of movement caught his attention. "Up! There! Over by you Kai! Can you see who it is?"

_"You are not going to believe it...but I think its me. I mean, it would be me if I had tattoos, ear piercings and hair long enough to pull back in a ponytail. Who exactly is that anyways Greenie?" _Kai's voice crackled over the earpiece, sounding highly disturbed by how mush he looks like the agent from Darkley's.

"Derek." Lloyd groaned, dismay edging his voice. "He joined us my second year in the Academy. Let's just say... his moves are very unorthodox. Scales never really liked him. He is a master at hand to hand combat...and pick pocketing. Stay on your toes guys. He can turn any paper he gets his hand on into a deadly weapon."

_"Great..."_ All of Lloyd's friends groaned with annoyance.

Lloyd leapt down, landing softly in front of the Magna Carta...just as a young teen wondered lazily into view. Just as Kai had warned them, he looked an awful not like Kai. He had long auburn hair that was pulled back into a greasy ponytail, stud earrings protruding from his earlobes. His sleeves were ripped of so as to show off about six different tattoos on his arms. Interestingly enough all six of them were of dragons...midflight with their claws extended as if they were fighting each other. "Derek...Long time no see." Lloyd rolled his shoulders to relieve some tension in his neck, though he doubted that would stop Derek from completely beating him up.

Derek snorted as he cracked his knuckles. "Come on shorty. What's ya going to do? Beat me up with your powers? We all know that you can't control them."

Lloyd blinked, an idea quickly taking hold. "Wanna bet on that?" He flexed his fingers, green energy crackling as it popped into existence.

Derek blinked, surprise flashing across his features for five seconds. Then he leaned forward, punching through one of the exhibits stands. "So what? Just a slightly bigger challenge than I originally thought is all."

Lloyd smirked, tilting his head in silent signal. Immediately his friends slipped out of the shadows, their own powers crackling to life. "Yeah...but I'm not alone anymore."

Derek narrowed his eyes before launching himself forward. Lloyd swallowed hard, suddenly glad that they had convinced security to move anything of value out of there. The exhibit he broke was just a cheap replica made in China.

~Next Day~

Cole reached a hand out, grabbing Lloyd by the arm. "Where do you think you're going?"

Lloyd glared at him, before shrugging him off. "Come on...Derek will expect us to send someone else in since he thinks that he should expect me to come which means that I have to face him."

"Kid...have you looked in a mirror recently?" Kai gestured to Lloyd's face, indicating the fresh bruise that was spread across his face.

Lloyd winced as he poked at the bruise that Derek gave him, wishing that the stronger boy could have held back at least a little. "I'll be fine. Trust me...I'll protect my face this time!"

"What about the rest of you?" Jay questioned, pressing an ice pack against his head.

"Guys! Just chill." Lloyd sprinted ahead of them, jumping onto the train, flashing the ticket that he stole from Kai to the train conductor.

Slipping into his seat, he stared out the window as he watched as the trees outside of it rolled past. "Well well… if it isn't Lloyd Ninja." Dareth suddenly sat down across from Lloyd, smirking as if he were confident that this time he will catch him. Upon glancing at his face, Dareth paled. "Um...what happened to your face!?"

Unfortunately, Lloyd just spotted Derek make his way to the dining car. "Much as I would like to stay here and chat...I've got some unfinished business to deal with."

"What? No! Stay here!" Dareth launched at Lloyd. Moving quickly, Lloyd managed to chain Dareth to the seat, using the handcuffs Dareth was holding.

Darting forward, he slipped into the dining car. Frowning upon realizing that Derek was just sitting casually at one of the tables, he walked over and sat down at a mostly empty table. "Oh hello." Pixal blinked rapidly as she looked up to see what to her looked like an average teen sitting down across from her.

"Hey." Lloyd glanced over at his table companion, noting a card similar to the one he just plucked from Dareth's jacket pocket resting just at the edge of her briefcase. "Waiting for someone?"

"Err..yes?" Pixal felt nervous as she shifted nervously.

"Cool." Derek got up and moved, signaling Lloyd that it was time to move on. "I've got to go." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his Ninja Incorporated identity card. "Official business."

"Oh my." Clearly she had some kind of dealing with them before seeing as she didn't question it. Standing up, he followed Derek this time to an empty passenger car. Time for some fun...

~Pixal, Thirty minutes Later~

Pixal felt her mouth drop open in surprise as she stared down at what was sitting in the seat that one of the Ninjas from Ninja Incorporated had sat in just minutes ago. The stolen Magna Carta. "You have got to be kidding me. Lloyd Ninja wouldn't return what he stole...it doesn't make any sense!" Pausing, her mind flashed to the mysterious Ninja Incorporated that she presumed that the Masters knew about. What if they didn't actually know about the Ninja Incorporated? She had no idea which Ninja was sitting with her...but now that she was thinking about it, he did match the description of Lloyd Ninja. "Oh dear... this complicates things."

~Same time with Lloyd~

"I cannot believe that Derek managed to steal that card from me!" Lloyd whined as he slouched down in the seat he was currently sitting in.

He and his friends were back on the private jet that two of them co-owned. Zane shrugged as he typed away at his laptop. "Perhaps with your memory of what it looks like I can see if I can't find out about it on the web? Surely someone knows about it."

"Thanks Z..." Lloyd sighed, glad that he had his friends with him and that he wasn't a solo act.

**A/N: Hello! Derek is an OC for Ninjago that one of us, leaving you to guess which one of us, made up a few years back and never used. Basically, he is either Kai and Nya's no good older brother that thankfully doesn't have any powers, or he is Kai's mirror image twin brother that is no good and has fire powers. Really need to figure out which version we like better. Both versions show up in Hunted in her headcanon to help protect Ninjago slash drive Nya up the wall. Their abilities with helping the Resistance depends on his age.**

**Review!**

**SkyTalon**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight: Some Vacation... Let's try again Next Week

Lloyd flipped through his wardrobe, before finally settling on an emerald green suit and tie. Pulling it out of the walk-in closet that the hotel came with, he tossed it onto his bed. "So, how's things going for you guys out there on the field anyways?"

A chuckle filled his ear, right before Kai's voice, laced with humor, spoke into the Bluetooth that was tucked into Lloyd's ear._ "Chill Kid. Cole and Jay already checked in. The caper they were in charge of stopping no longer exists and Sis and I are about to go in to stop the Bank robbery. Zane says to tell you that he's still looking for that card you had found... but isn't having any luck with it. He's gone to bring it up with our superiors."_

Lloyd groaned at that, frustrated that they still hadn't found anything. "I want answers... like yesterday."

_ "Hey...being impatient is my thing. Not yours. Zane ain't gonna stop till he gets you the answers you want."_

Lloyd rolled his eyes, before pulling back the curtains in his room, peering out over at the fog that was covering the city. "Yeah and I'm in fog city getting ready to get rid of Darkley's money one of the ways that the Government has agreed is acceptable."

_"I thought you were in San Francisco?" _

Lloyd shrugged off his sweater, tossing it to the side. Picking up his white shirt, he pulled it on, his fingers flying as he buttoned it up. "I am. San Francisco is known for its fog. Wish I could talk some more but everyone that is hoping to donate money to the children's hospital has to wear their forma dress. Talk to you later."

_"Bye kid!"_

Lloyd quickly pulled out his Bluetooth, tossing it on his bed. Grabbing his green suit pants, he moved to stand in front of the floor length mirror. He had one more job to do then it was vacay time. A much needed vacation in his opinion. One could only fight against the ones that raised him for so long before going crazy.

…...

Lloyd readjusted his tie as the fancy sports car he just bought was rolled out of the room. Green eyes flickering around the room, he felt impatience flash through him, not for the first time wondering why they sent him instead of Zane. Or Cole. Those two always handled the auctions.

"Next up we have this extremely rare stamp that is worth ten million do..." A loud gasp tore from the auctioneer as the cover over the stamp was removed to reveal that it was no longer there.

Alarmed, Lloyd stood up abruptly, scanning the crowd even as he moved to leave the auction. "This has Darkley's written all over it." Lloyd muttered under his breath as he hurried out of the room. Stepping into the cool night air, he summoned one of his green energy balls to his hand to act as a light. Not that it did any good with the thick fog that was still hanging low over the city.

Spinning in a circle, he yelped in surprise when he came face to face with Dareth. "Stop right there Lloyd Ninja!" Dareth lifted a hand up to reveal that he was holding a pair of handcuffs.

Lloyd bit back a sigh, before quickly disappearing into the fog. Leaping on top of the building, he peered out across the city to see a familiar form strolling through the town... and the direction he was headed compared to the direction that he was leaving made it very obvious that he had just left the auction. And if Lloyd knows him half as well as he believed he did, then he hadn't been donating like the others there. Lloyd growled softly, before leaping across the rooftops, making sure to keep his old friend in sight at all times. Looks like his mission just changed...and he didn't even have any friends that were countryside!

…..

"Chinatown? Seriously Chang?" Lloyd muttered to himself as he followed the young Chinese man through the crowds, not impressed that Chang actually had the idea to go somewhere where he would blend in with the crowd with no effort on his part.

Lloyd pulled his hood up over his head, glad that he had the foresight to change into some more casual clothing. Moving briskly, he followed Chang to the store across the street, his eyes narrowing as he watched as Chang picked up a random lucky cat statue. Stepping into the store, Lloyd shoved his hands into his pockets as he stared at him. "Hands in the air, Chang. I believe we both know you're the one that stole the collector's stamp."

Chang sat the statue back down...and then immediately mimed pulling out a gun. Lloyd quickly dove to the side, with just enough forethought to pull a customer down with him. A gunshot rented the air as a very real, very visible bullet shot forth out of the invisible gun that Chang was holding, slamming into several of the lucky cat statues that were on display. Screams tore through the others in the store as they hurriedly rushed from the building. "Chang! Put the weapons down and come peacefully!" Lloyd shoved the customer out the door, turning to face the clearly angry young man.

"I...don't...think so!" Chang fired a shot at the ceiling, shattering the store's source of light.

Lloyd winced as he flung on arm up to protect his face. "Oh come on!" This was really not cool.

….

Gene growled as Lloyd flipped away from him, a confident smirk on his face. "That can't be the best you've got Gene. I didn't pass Scales class, remember?" Lloyd crouched low, staring intently at the criminal that was standing right in front of him.

Gene scowled, moving to intercept Lloyd, only for the infamous super thief to dodge him easily. Lloyd glanced down, spotting a familiar face. Ah...the female agent that he hasn't taken anything from. Allowing himself to fall backwards, Lloyd activated his hang-glider, soaring through the air...and away from the scene. A laugh escaped Gene as he reached into his pocket. "Coward! I still have the sta... where's the stamp?!"

Lloyd shook his head as he pulled the valuable stamp out of his pocket. "Nice hiding spot!" Slipping it back in, he pulled out a cell phone. "Oh, by the way... I have your phone for now."

…...

"You did what now!?" Kai gawked at Lloyd, shock written across his features.

Lloyd ran a hand down his face, amusement flickering tiredly in his eyes. "I stole Gene's phone...and used it to call the Darkley's Council...so that I could taunt them...and then I turned the phone in to the proper authorities."

Kai shook his head as he leaned back in his chair. "I heard you the first time... I just have a hard time believing it."

"Just checking." Lloyd shrugged, already leaning back in his seat.

Cole shook his head as he tapped away on his phone. "Eesh… I think you're more ready for a vacation than we thought if you're _taunting_ them now!"

Lloyd rolled his eyes, before stifling a yawn. "Wake me when we get there...why don't ya?"

Cole hummed to himself as he didn't look up from his electronic. "Yeah...sure thing kid."

Lloyd rolled his eyes, before closing them...allowing sleep to over take him instantly.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine: Can we just give up with the whole Vacation idea..?

Lloyd stretched out on the beach, his gaze wandering over the few others that were enjoying the beach day. Lou was discussing something with an elderly couple, while Dr. Julian was examining a seashell that Echo had found. A game of volleyball was going on with the teams being Kai and Nya on one side, and Jay and Cole on the other. Zane was perched on a chair near Lloyd, his fingers flying as he worked on his laptop.

"Lloyd? We have a problem." Zane looked up suddenly, a frown crossing his features.

There was a loud thud as the volleyball smacked Jay in the head. "No! We're on vacation Z! No problems allowed!"

"Except that the mystery card that I was digging into to find out more about it, I found it on the Dark web." Zane twisted the laptop around so that Lloyd could see the website that was pulled up.

Lloyd felt all color drain from his face as he stared at the screen, his eyes darting down the page. "Who's Dareth von Brown? And why is Darkley's holding him prisoner and calling him my partner in crime?"

Kai wandered over to them , grabbing the laptop without thinking. "Really? I thought..." There was an explosion as the laptop exploded on him. Kai hurriedly dropped the now destroyed piece of tech into Zane's lap. "Darkley's was smarter than to think an idiot that is chasing us across the world is one of us. Sorry Zane."

"No problem." Zane somehow managed to grind out, fingers flying as he disassembled the laptop further. "Nya can help me fix it." Pausing, he glanced up at his friends, concern dancing in his eyes. "According to the dark web before you destroyed my laptop, they are holding him in Paris, France."

"We should head down there and scout around. It would be better not to involve the police. If they come in sirens wailing, they're more likely to kill Agent Von Brown." Lloyd stood up brushing sand off of his green swimming trunks.

Nya gestured to the adults, concern dancing in her eyes. "Do we tell the others that an emergency came up at work...or do we just leave?"

"Tell them." Cole interjected before Lloyd could. "I know that Dad will get mad at us if we just up and leave."

"Go. Kai, Nya? You're with me. We'll get the plane ready to go." Lloyd strolled to where the private jet was parked on a nearby airstrip, the siblings on his heels.

…..

"Kid? You recognize those guys?" Kai readjusted his binoculars, gesturing wildly to the building across the street from them.

Lloyd frowned, peering through his own binoculars to the two men that were standing guard inside. "Oh yeah... Pythor, Darkley's Hand to Hand combat instructor, and Scales. Darkley's Stealth Instructor."

"Isn't Scales the one that failed you?" Nya piped up from behind them, interest edging her voice.

"Don't remind me...that guy had it out for me since the beginning." Lloyd grumped as he slipped his binoculars away. "We need a distraction so that I can get in there and get von Brown to safety."

"Got it." They did so love speaking in unison.

…...

Lloyd could feel his heart pounding loudly in his chest. Only it wasn't from nerves or fear... it was excitement. Pulling one over Darkley's when they were obviously expecting him to show up always made him a smidgen on the excited side. Running across the rooftop, he leapt over to the building that they were keeping Dareth in. Grasping the side of the building, he climbed down to the window that showed Dareth hidden inside. Forcing it open and climbing through was the easy part. Dealing with a nearly comatose Dareth on the other hand...

Lloyd sliced the knots that held Dareth prisoner, trying his hardest to support the crazy man. "I'm not part of the group that took you...I'm rescuing you."

Dareth mumbled something, before pulling out a pen and clicking it. Lloyd frowned, even as Dareth passed out. Just then a hologram of a lady popped up out of the pen. "Agent Von Brown? What is it this time...Lloyd Ninja!" Her eyes widened in horror as she took in the scene.

Lloyd figured that it probably looked bad... after all he was standing over Dareth's limp body. Panic flared up as he tried to figure something out that he could do. The only thing that made sense to him, though Zane probably would disagree, was to destroy the pen and end the hologram. His foot slammed into the pen, splintering it into a thousand pieces. "Ok...I am spending too much time with Zane if I'm counting every single piece of a pen."

Shaking his head, he moved to leave the building, he had a funny feeling that someone noticed that something was going on and called the police... particularly that hologram lady. "Going somewhere so soon Slip Star?"

"Pythor." Lloyd spun around to face the pale man with dark purple highlights.

Pythor cracked his knuckles, looking a bit too excited for the upcoming fight. "One and only... and no one messes with my hard work."

"Sorry to break it to you...but I've got a gig set up where that is precisely the thing that I do." Lloyd shifted into the fighting stance that Kai taught him, running through all of the worst case scenarios in his mind. Unfortunately all of them ended with him dead and Pythor getting away free.

Pythor lunged forward with no warning, quickly wrapping Lloyd in a tight hug...to any outsiders. Lloyd gasped as he felt his ribs crack and his breathing became more and more shallow as he slowly squeezed him to death...literally. Lloyd's eyes flickered as he struggled to stay conscience, black dots floating in his vision. Just as he thought that this was it, that this was how he was going to die...everything stopped and Pythor released him.

"Are you alright?" Scales moved close to him, grasping Lloyd by the arm as he helped him back to his feet.

Lloyd gave his head a quick shake, trying to clear his mind. "Yeah...I'm fine. Why did you..."

"Not here. The police just arrived. This way." Scales interrupted him, ushering him down a hatchway.

Lloyd stumbled after the professional thief, more confused than ever...

…...

Lloyd felt like his head was about to explode as he stood on the random roof, clutching the hard drive in his hand. Cole stood right behind him, ready to catch him in case he fell.

"So let me get it straight... _Scales_, the guy that you always thought hated you, was the one that found you and everything he did was to keep you from finding out the hard way that you are no Darkley's agent?"

"Cole...not now. I need to rest and then start fighting Darkley's again. Especially after we get this to Zane." Lloyd rubbed a hand over his face, feeling exhausted.

"If you say so..." Cole didn't voice any of the questions that his voice betrayed.

~Meanwhile Atop of a Random Mountain~

Chief paused in front of the large building, suddenly wondering what it was that she was doing. She didn't need help from the idiots! She was just about to head back down the mountain when the door suddenly swung open to reveal a sixty something man with neatly combed hair staring straight at her, his dark green eyes hard. "What do you want?"

She felt her heart pound in her chest, knowing that it was her decision that the others didn't agree to that she had gone through anyways that led to his cold reception towards her. "I came to apologize. You were correct. Pixal Borg and Dareth von Brown were no replacements for Ray and Maya."

His gaze softened as he stepped back, ushering her inside the gigantic courtyard. "I should apologize for criticizing you for trying to help. We've been short handed since Jordan Gordan and Joseph Blizzard died, and Ray and Maya disappeared. Combined with Rachel Stone running away when she was too young to start training. You were just trying to help us."

She smiled timidly at him as she went in for a hug, relief flashing through her. He wasn't mad at her for recruiting someone that wasn't part of their prestigious bloodline...


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten: Vacation is over... Back to work!

Lloyd stood still, his expression blank as he stared ahead. Kai nibbled his bottom lip for a second, before placing a hand on Lloyd's shoulder. It's been five and a half weeks since Lloyd has been on the field, and he didn't appear to be paying any attention. "Kid? Come on. We're going to loose Mindroid if you just stand around here."

Lloyd shook his head, in a poor attempt to clear his mind. "Sorry Kai... let's go."

Kai waited a few minutes, before timidly speaking up. "Do you... need Dr. Julian or Uncle Lou take you in to a therapist?"

Lloyd clenched his fingers into a fist, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "What will I tell them? Hi, I was raised by criminals, thought this one criminal was the one that took me in but it turned out to be a completely different criminal? And now I keep getting flashes on how I most likely was found all those years ago?"

Kai winced, running a hand through his hair. "Sorry... didn't mean t..." Lloyd clapped a hand over Kai's mouth, a soft hiss of quiet escaping him.

Mindroid was walking past a businessman, and as they watched, he slipped a bag into the man's hand. The man casually slipped the bag into his pocket. "I'm going to go pick his pocket. Find out what it is that Darkley's is up to now."

"You sure that you're up to it?" Kai questioned him, his voice soft.

Lloyd rolled his eyes skyward, before shrugging his surrogate big brother off. "I know that Z told you to keep an eye on me. I wasn't born yesterday."

Kai grinned, jogging next to the moving quickly teen. "I told him that you wouldn't like that."

…..

Lloyd rubbed the gemstone between his fingers, one eyebrow arching upwards. "Alexandrite? What use would this be to Darkley's?"

"Who cares? How soon till we're in Rio? I can't wait for this Carnival that Z mentioned!" Jay bounced slightly in his seat. Instead of taking their normal passage on the private jet, they had booked three tickets for the commercial line.

Cole arched one eyebrow upwards, finally looking up from the lists of food that could be found in Rio. "You do know that the Carnival doesn't have any rides...right?"

"Oh..." Jay slumped forward in his seat, for five seconds before popping back up. "Can we still wear masks like everyone else though!?"

Cole turned to face Lloyd, who quickly lifted his hands up in the surrender position. "He's your best friend...not mine. You deal with it."

Cole groaned, before going back to read about the native food. Lloyd shook his head, amused about his friends' response to everything.

…..

Lloyd stumbled, blinking rapidly as he scanned the area around him to make sure that no one had noticed him freezing up. Cole and Jay were interrogating a jeweler for information while he was looking for a Darkley's Agent to follow. Lifting a hand up, he rubbed at his eyes, before lifting his binoculars back up to his face to stare at the young couple with a baby that he could of sworn was himself. Relief flashed through him upon seeing that it was just a random baby that looked nothing like him. "I've got to stop seeing things..." Lloyd muttered under his breath as he shifted his attention away to look in a different place.

When his phone went off, he tried his hardest not to act excited. Pulling his cell phone out, he pushed the talk button as he lifted it to his ear. "Report."

_"We got Mindroid in sight. We're following him now. We're down in the Favelas. Do you see us?" _Jay's voice was brisk, but lacking the tone that indicated all business.

Lloyd lifted his binoculars up with one hand, peering in the direction that Jay claimed they were in. Upon spotting Mindroid with two familiar figures right behind him, Lloyd smiled. "Yeah... I see you. I'll be down in five." Lloyd hung up, shoving the phone and binoculars into his coat pocket. Stepping onto the railing, he allowed himself to fall, activating his hang-glider.

…..

Lloyd took a step back, blinking rapidly as he stared at the shocked family that was sitting around the living room that Mindroid had just ran through. A groan escaped him as he pressed a hand to the side of his head, annoyed at himself for once again seeing himself in another. Leaping out of the same kitchen window that Mindroid had just jumped out of, he charged into the next house...only to find it completely empty.

Spinning in a circle, Lloyd ran his hands through his hair, a low growl of frustration escaping him. He stopped abruptly upon finding the young family that he just ran through the home of, standing behind him, concern in their eyes. "Would you like to join us for dinner?"

Lloyd hesitated, even as his stomach growled in agreement. Hearing his stomach growl made the young boy burst out laughing, reaching out to grab a hold of his hand. "Come on! Mom makes the best food!"

Lloyd laughed at that, allowing the child to drag him back to their house. "I guess a small bite wouldn't hurt."

…...

"Thank you ma'am for such a wonderful meal." Lloyd sincerely thanked his host as he gathered his dishes up, with the full intention of taking them to the sink.

"It is nothing, really." The mother of the household insisted, already working on cleaning up the mess.

The father leaned back, clasping his hands together in front of him. "If you don't mind me asking...but why where you chasing that young man so, willy-nilly? As if everything depended on you catching him?"

Lloyd debated on what to tell him, for a few seconds. "That young man is known for working for a criminal organization. I was trying to arrest him before he could ruin more lives than he already has."

"Hmm... he's one of the ones that have been staying in that old rundown tenant house." The mother commented.

Lloyd felt his eyes widen, his mind latching on the fact that, despite watching Mindroid enter the building, he was no where in there. "Trap door. There must be a trap door over there somewhere."

"Go. If you need to save the day, then you shouldn't delay."

….

Lloyd moved quietly through the underground tunnel, moving slowly to where he could hear voices. Pausing, he peered over to where Mindroid and Gene were arguing over something. Before he could say or do anything, there was a loud thud from behind him. "Uh...who let Lloyd Ninja in here!?"

Lloyd spun around to find himself facing Nindroid, even as Gene and Mindroid rushed over to aid him. Three against one... and the one only just recently was given the doctor's okay for this kind of stuff. Lloyd gritted his teeth, frustration flaring up. He really didn't like his odds here...


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven: We do not have a problem! *Six seconds Later* Maybe a small one...

"Just wait till I get my hands on you!" Lloyd blurted out as his hands were tied firmly behind his back.

A snort of disbelief escaped Nindroid as he shoved the teen super thief into the wall, knocking him down so that he was sitting instead of standing. "_ Right_... I'll believe that when your not tied up and ready to be delivered to the Council."

Lloyd could feel his heart pound loudly in his chest, his mind trying to find a way to get out of there. Before he could say anything, a familiar voice sliced through the air. "I'll take him from here." Scales slipped silently into the room, his features devoid of any emotions.

Lloyd felt his heart sink as he came to the realization that Scales was still the enemy. Gene arched one eyebrow upwards, surprise flashing in his eyes. "I didn't know you were in the area."

"I was tracking Lloyd down. You see, a while back I had feed him a bunch of lies about his origins. Told him that Pythor found him on the side of a road in Croatia. Pathetic really that he believed all that... Pythor has never even been to Croatia!" Scales burst out laughing, which made the three enemy agents to laugh as well. Lloyd fought back a sigh and a smile, realizing that Scales was still on his side. None of what he said just then was true. "The Council sent me to retrieve him. Top secret mission. We'll be going now." Scales hauled Lloyd to his feet roughly, shoving him from behind as he escorted the currently imprisoned super thief.

Lloyd waited till they were out in the hall, out of ear shot of the others before he spoke up. "Can you untie me puh-lease."

"Sorry about that." Scales quickly undid the knots, allowing the ropes to fall free. "We best get moving quickly before they..." A shout of outrage rented the air in half from somewhere behind them. "Realize that I have gone rogue and am no longer welcomed by the Council."

Lloyd rolled his eyes, before breaking at a sprint. "Try to keep up while your at it!"

"Speaking about keeping up..." Scales nervously, and sounding a bit too guilty for Lloyd's liking, spoke up. "We have a pit stop that we need to make."

"Scales... I don't like the sound of that!"

…...

"Lloyd! You won't believe it, but one of those Darkley's Agents is dressed as a bird...BEHIND YOU!" Jay babbled nonsensically as he was finally released the large tin container that he and Cole had been shoved into.

Scales sighed, before turning to look at Lloyd again. "As I was saying... I was tracking Mindroid when these buffoons nearly gave me away. I had to do something."

"So...you tied my teammates up and tossed them into a container?" Lloyd arched one eyebrow upwards, clearly surprised about his actions. Scales grumbled under his breath, though he didn't have long to wait for Lloyd to pull out his phone and push a button. "Z... we've located the mine. It's basically empty, how would you suggest that they smuggle them out so that I can smuggle them back into the city?"

"The parade. It's going to start any minute now..." Zane's voice came over the phone's speaker, the clicking of a keyboard filling the background.

"Then let's go watch a parade. The one float that leaves the parade is them." Lloyd nodded in firm agreement, despite the fact that Zane couldn't see him.

….

Lloyd shifted slightly, scanning the parade route in front of him, looking for the one float that was different than the others. Frustrated, he lifted his phone up and spoke directly into it. "Report."

_"Still got nothing... are we sure that they're going to try to smuggle them out tonight?" _Cole responded instantly, though his voice sounded more like it was stuffed full of food at the moment.

"Come on Dirtclod, swallow before you speak." Lloyd rolled his eyes, before lowering his phone to turn to stare at Scales. "What about you? See anything of interest?"

"Yes... that castle float is headed to the harbor, away from the rest of the parade." Scales jerked a finger towards where the aforementioned float was driving along a different route.

Lloyd eyed the float, confusion flooding him for a few minutes before something clicked inside of him. "Of course... Ducks!"

_"What about ducks?" _Four confused voices echoed over the phone.

Before Lloyd could explain, Zane spoke up, his voice eerily calm still. _"Not actual ducks. Ducks is also a nickname given to a special type of tour bus that can drive on both...land and sea. That float must be a duck in disguise."_

"Couldn't have said it better Z." Lloyd smiled, please that his friend could explain it for him.

"And how do we get onto the float to stop them?" Scales questioned, unaware how that was a bad idea where the friends where concerned.

"Easy..." Lloyd smirked, before summoning a large amount of his powers, forming it into an actual dragon. "We fly." The energy made dragon snatched up Scales with no warning before taking off in the night sky.

….

Scales dodged a quick karate kick from Gene, vaguely aware of Lloyd using his powers to blast the twins over board. Hearing the loud, and panicky, yelps from Nindroid and Mindroid briefly distracted Gene, allowing Scales to toss him overboard just as Lloyd took control of the float, making it move full throttle towards the docks.

"How are we going to sneak this back into the city? Surely they know what their float looks like!" Scales frowned, worried about how much of a plan there was formed.

Lloyd chuckled as he slowed down once they were a safe distance from the Darkley's Agents. "Relax. I already gave Cole and Jay the okay to instigate Operation: Chameleon."

Scales frowned, confused about what he meant by that, however before he could actually say anything though, Jay's voice cut through the night air. "Over here Lloyd! They had a bunch of duck float covers...but then we found this!" A minute later, a...dragon float cover landed on top of the float, completely covering it.

"Are...all of you dragon crazy?"

Cole jumped down, a crazy smile on his face. "You make it sound like we have a problem since we can summon dragons using our powers to fly around on, and we draw dragons in our free time… we use them as our team symbols. We're in heaven if we're in a situation where we can use dragon-based termology… we totally don't have a problem."

Scales felt his eye twitch as he stared at the young team he was now officially joining. "Oh no... you guys have a problem."

**A/N: So... Ella seems to think that we, particularly me since it was my idea, need to explain how yes, we know that in the show it was a duck and not a dragon. However, I think with dragon based powers, and how the showverse has soo many dragons, that they need to be obsessed with dragons. And Scales isn't too sure about any of this. Oh well. Till next time!**

**Review!**

**SkyTalon **& _Ella_


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve: Misunderstandings Abound and Scales is trying to Make Things Right...

Lloyd woke up to Cole shaking him. "Wha… Cole you better have a good reason for waking me up in the middle of the night!" He swatted his friend away from him, already scanning the train car that they were in to see if he couldn't find anything out of place. "Where's Scales?" Lloyd shot upright, worry creasing his brow as he registered the fact that the newest, highly questionable though, member of their team was missing.

"Oh no he didn't!" Nya snarled as she flicked one of her daggers out, fury dancing in her eyes.

"Put those away." Lloyd stood up, already moving to exit the train. "We need to find him." Exiting the train, he scanned the station until he spotted Scales near the exit. "This way guys." Lloyd took off at a sprint, not even bothering to check that the others were at his heels. "Scales!" He reached a hand out, snagging the slippery thief by the arm.

Scales twisted around to glare at him, his voice a soft hiss. "You do not need to follow me. What I am about to do is personal, it as nothing to do with Darkley's."

"Yea... I think that we both know that I just don't believe that." Lloyd grinded out as he fell in step with Scales. Scales shook his head, before stepping onto a tour bus that was headed to who knows where. Lloyd stayed on his heels, determined not to lose sight of the irritable man. "Can you at least tell me where we're headed."

"No. Leave." Scales grounded out, annoyance flaring up in his eyes.

"Scales...please." Lloyd placed a hand gently on his mentor's arm, trying to get him to open up about what he was up to right now.

Scales stared at him for a minute, before turning to stare out the window. "We are going to a Museum. Now stay out of my way."

Lloyd frowned at that, before turning slightly to stare out of the window. Ouroboros sprawled out in front of him, the city just as busy as he had heard of it being growing up. Eventually the bus stopped in front of a steep hill that had what looked like an ancient temple on top of it. Upon seeing that Scales was getting off of the bus, Lloyd got up and followed him. Upon entering the Temple, which had apparently been turned into a museum some decades prior, Lloyd sighed as he once again lost sight of Scales.

Walking through the museum, he approached one of the exhibits, a frown crossing his features as he realized that it looked familiar. Bending down, he carefully examined it, his fingers itching to pick it up and scan it to make sure that he wasn't seeing things. The blade in the glass case looked exactly like the one that Scales carried with him everywhere. "Get away from there... did Sukēru send you?" An angry voice spoke up from behind Lloyd, yanking him back from the exhibit.

Lloyd found himself facing what looked like an older version of Scales, though he was sure that he was just seeing things, simply his brain remembering that Scales was originally from here. "No... I am afraid that I don't know anyone by that name." He moved to step back from the man, already shoving his hands deep into his hoodie's pockets. "I guess I'll just get going then... I'm just looking for someone that I know is all." With that said, he turned and left the museum, making a mental note that if he couldn't see Scales then that meant that he was waiting for the museum to close for the day. Which with a thief was never a good sign...

….

"I knew it! I can't believe you! I told you that we don't steal!" Lloyd clenched his fingers into a tight fist, anger spluttering through his voice.

Scales shook his head as he stepped away from the case with the blade in it, annoyance flaring in his eyes. "No... I am not stealing anything. I am returning something that I had stolen many years ago." He tightened his grip on the katana that hang at his side, his expression grim.

Lloyd lifted a single brow up, eyeing the blade curiously. "So I was right. The blade in the case is a copy of yours."

"No... it is the other half of mine. You see the twin katanas of Ouroboros are legendary. Not worth much, but hey... the history of them are what makes them..."

"Priceless." Lloyd felt guilty for even daring to accuse Scales of stealing the blade in the museum. "There's a guy that works here. He asked if someone named Sukēru had sent me." Crossing his arms across his chest, he latched his eyes on his mentor. "I didn't let on that I happen to be fluent in Japanese... who is he and how does he know you?"

Scales flinched at that question, pain flashing across his features as he shifted nervously. "That is a long story..." Before he could say anything else, there was several loud bangs from the other side of the Museum.

"By the sounds of things, my friends are keeping Darkley's busy right now. So by all means, explain away." Lloyd gestured for him to continue, clearly not worried about how his friends were faring.

Scales sighed, before softly explaining his story. "When I was growing up, it was just me and my brother, Slithraa. He was a scholar so we ended up living on a scholar's salary... which I am sure you know is not very big. He was content to live off of such a small wage, but I wasn't. I started to steal to make myself more likable to the wrong kind of crowds. One day, I was talking, bragging even, about how easy it would be to steal the twin katanas. What I didn't know at the time was the fact that the person that I was talking to was a big time crime boss. He told me that I'll give me more money than I can ever dream off if I bring him _both _of the twin katanas. That night I broke into the museum... I was able to get one but Slithraa had the other, and he was furious that I would do this. He tried to beg me to give myself up... to hand him the katana and give up stealing. I...couldn't do it. That night I left Ouroboros." Scales took in a shuddering breath, his gaze darting back to the exhibit. "Everyone believes that I never looked back when I left... I am sure that he believes so as well... however the truth of the matter is, I did look back."

Lloyd nodded slowly, understanding flashing in his eyes. "So you think that if you bring back the katana that you stole, he will forgive you and you can go back to being brothers?"

"That is what I am hoping will happen." Scales took another shuddering breath, clearly far more nervous than he was willing to let on.

"Go for it Scales." Lloyd gestured for Scales to go past him into the Museum. Scales slipped past him, heading into the building. "Oh! And Scales?" Lloyd waited for the repentant thief to turn to face him. "Good luck."

Scales smiled at that, before disappearing into the building for good, the door sliding silently shut behind him.

…..

Lloyd frowned, silently reviewing what his friends had discovered the night before. "So what I am hearing is that if you hadn't been there, Darkley's would have stolen the twin katanas to use as a trap against Scales?"

"Yes... though the fact that they are clearly trying to eliminate him is a bit more disconcerting." Zane tapped his fingers together, a sign that he was far more nervous than he was letting on.

"Then we best get a move on. I left a note on how to improve security to the point that Darkley's can't get in with the katanas. Hopefully Slithraa will notice it and follow the advise that I gave him." Scales stood stiffly by the train car door, keeping people out of the room that they were staying in.

**A/N: Slithraa is the Hypnobrai General that Scales defeated so as to become the leader. Just so that you all know that. ****Sukēru is just the Japanese word for Scales. Not super creative, but we couldn't remember what name Shadowsan's older brother had used when asking Carmen about whether or not she worked for him. Yeah... sorry?**

**SkyTalon **& _Ella_


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen: Hats off to You!

Scales slipped into the private jet that Lloyd and his friends used most of the time for their capers, a frown on his face. "I didn't stop him from stealing that smart fabric."

Lloyd groaned as he ran a hand down his face, turning to face the rest of his friends that were there. "Zane? Any idea on what they possibly could be using smart fabric for?"

Zane typed at his laptop for a minute, before shaking his head. "Nothing... perhaps once Cole and Jay get back from their pizza run I would have found something."

"I have a hard time believing that you don't have an HQ of your own." Scales shook his head, amusement slipping in as he eyed the four friends that were present.

Kai shrugged as he stretched luxuriously across the seat that he was hogging. "I don't see why not. We've got a plane... and can afford five star hotels without using Darkley's money, since a couple of us happen to be filthy rich."

Nya swatted him at that comment, rolling her eyes skyward. "Don't let Cole hear you call him that."

"Call me what?" Cole walked in just then, balancing three extra-large pipping hot pizza boxes. Jay followed him closely, carrying a medium pizza box and a large sack full of paper cups and plates, as well as several liters of various sodas.

"I get the feeling that Kai was commenting on the fact that you and Zane have a lot of money in your bank accounts from your weekly allowances that your parents give you." Jay piped up as he dropped the bag less than gracefully onto the floor, before slipping the box down onto the small serving table. "By the way, we picked up a dessert pizza while down there. They had a sale going on."

"Sweet!" Kai rubbed his hands together, his eyes lighting up with excitement.

Cole gave Kai a flat look at that, shaking his head at him as if he didn't think it was so great. "It has chocolate on it." Kai immediately deflated.

Zane placed a hand on his shoulder, giving him the smallest of smiles. "We still have some strawberry caramel swirl ice cream leftover. You can have that for your dessert instead."

Kai brightened back up at that, before flipping open the first pizza box and grabbing a slice out of it. As if that were a signal for the others, all six of the teenagers lunged forward, piling food onto their plates. Once they backed away from the three extra-large boxes... only one slice of each remained. Scales shot his eyebrow upwards in surprise, they ate for more than most teenagers for sure, he grabbed a plate and placed the last three slices on it. At least the dessert pizza hadn't been opened yet. And there was that comment about Kai not eating the dessert pizza due to it having chocolate. "Why does whether or not something as chocolate on it affects if Kai will eat it or not?"

"The fact that I'm deathly allergic to the stuff." Kai tore a large piece of pizza off with his teeth, seemingly undisturbed about his lack of manners.

Scales nearly choked at that, before thinking about on it and realized that... well, it actually made sense. Kai never ate chocolate if he could help it. Scales had just presumed that he just didn't like that stuff. "Do we know anything about..."

"There's a fashion show going on in Milan where they will be paying tribute to the original Medici fourteenth century attire. As in they will have it on display on the catwalk along with the latest fashion statements that the show will be showcasing. Those pieces happen to be worth quite a bit..." Zane broke off, glancing over at Lloyd, who nodded thoughtfully.

"We're running them into debt. Something like that would sell for millions of dollars on the black market." Lloyd nodded slowly, understanding flashing in his eyes.

Nya rolled her shoulders, as if to relief some tension there. "Then we best get going and stop these guys from making off with the antique clothing."

….

Lloyd rolled his eyes skyward as he paused, watching as the security at the fashion show stopped Scales from entering. Scales scowled at them, but stood back without putting up too much of a fight. "Split up. We can cover more ground that way." Lloyd glanced down the left hallway, figuring he'll start down there.

"Got it." His friends, all five of them since this could very easily turn into an all hands on deck scenario according to Zane's statics, chirped in unison.

Lloyd quickly left them to their own devises as he disappeared down the long hallway. Now just to stop Darkley's before its too late!

….

Lloyd could feel his heart pound loudly in his chest as he dodged a kick to the head that one of the mind-controlled models threw his way. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Pixal managed to knock two more models down on her own. She was pretty good, and maybe if she were a freak like the rest of them he would ask her to join them. Unfortunately she wasn't so they had to make due without her assistance.

_"Greenie! The dresses are secured!" _Kai's voice crackled over the earpiece that Lloyd was wearing.

Hand darting up to his ear, Lloyd pressed the small device down so as to activate the tiny microphone. "Got it hothead. I want everyone to reconvene at the predestined meetup point." Concentrating on the battle at hand, he threw a few more punches, knocking a few more models down. Now if only they would stay down! Even as this thought crossed his mind, the models surged back to their feet.

"Perhaps we should call for backup?" Pixal nervously suggested as she backed up into a wall.

Before Lloyd could sarcastically ask her if she had any in her back pockets, Zane lunged forward seemingly out of nowhere, ice spewing from his outstretched hands. Scales darted into the room not long after him, quickly tearing off two of the hats that the mind control device was sewn into. Immediately the two models fell to the ground unconscious. "Get the hats off! They'll do the rest!"

….

"Come on... surely there's something here that you like?" Lloyd grumbled to Scales as he crossed his arms in a huff. He was waiting in a clothing store not far from where the fashion show was being held, buying an entirely new wardrobe for Scales... who was being very hesitant about getting new clothes.

Scales stepped forth in his new outfit, a pair of tan suit pants, and a light brown button shirt with a loose fitting black trench coat. He glanced down at what he was wearing, then nodded in confirmation. Seemingly out of nowhere, he pulled out a pair of designer sunglasses, perching them on his nose. "Can I get these?" For some reason he sounded like a child asking for parental permission to eat candy.

"Sure... Darkley's can afford it." Lloyd shrugged, trying his best not to smile at Scales. At least they were finally getting somewhere with him about his wardrobe choices...

_"Greenie? Father and Lou both have agreed to fund an actual base for us. They have even found what they believe is the perfect base for us. Shall we leave to check it out?" _Zane's voice sliced through the air, making Lloyd lift a hand up to the earpiece in his ear.

"Sure. Let's get going."

**A/N: Ella: Uh... Sky? Isn't the whole chocolate allergy your headcanon?**

**Skyla: You were the one that asked me to write the first half of this chapter! Besides that, have you looked over the plotline?**

**Ella: You're referring to the fact that we basically either have to make up how they all meet, or just skip this next episode of Carmen Sandiego.**

**Skyla: Well... that too. I was actually referring to the fact we're getting close to the part where we basically leave Carmen Sandiego behind since... well spoilers for all our readers.**

**Ella: Oh yeah! I forgot about the kidnapping and mysteries that are coming up! That's going to be so much fun!**

**Skyla: Well... I better get going. Since it's Monday you probably will want to get going on your other stories.**

**Ella: Bye Sky! Oh! Before I forget, my email ain't sending me nothing from here... so yeah Sky is supposed to remind to go on and check for reviews! Follows and favorites aren't as easy to keep track off without a working email. I don't know what it going on with it. Thank you for your patience!**

**SkyTalon **& _Ella_


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen: The Racing Heist...

_Thud! Bang! _Lloyd paused in his spar with Scales, tilting his head to the side. "Cole! What was that?!"

"Nothing much! Jay just dropped a box of weights!" Lloyd briefly debated on asking _why _Jay was apparently carrying a box of weights into the old warehouse that they were fixing up for their base. That was a job for Cole due to how heavy they are.

Zane stuck his head into the room that was being turned into a private gym for the gang to use. "Lloyd, I have located a new scheme from Darkley's. Shall we convene in the Debriefing Room?"

Yeah, sure." Lloyd nodded to where a box of boxing gloves lay. Scales silently pulled his gloves off, dropping them back into the box.

...

"Super car! Awesome!" Jay and Nya high fived each other as they squealed loudly as they looked at the computer screen.

Zane rolled his eyes, before turning to face the group, clicking out of the file that he had pulled up. "For this mission we're gonna need our best driver, and I really hate to say this but... for this to work we need someone to break into the _gala _that is being held to celebrate the creation of the automobile and, well...only one of us is any good at doing distractions and infiltrations at the same time."

Scales glanced over at Lloyd out of confusion, while all of the rest of them groaned loudly. Cole shook his head, exasperation flooding his voice. "Great... Kai doesn't know the first thing about attending a Gala!"

"That might be a problem." Scales raised an eyebrow, startled to learn that the boy with his hair on fire was the one that Zane was suggesting to attend the gala.

Nya muttered something under her breath, before lifting her hand up and spraying water onto Kai's head, putting the fire out. "Hey! Whatcha do that for!?"

"We really don't need the fire alarms to go off, again."

...

Nya fought the urge to facepalm when she spotted a familiar figure sneering at Kai. Ignoring the way her brand new black high heels clicked loudly against the tiled floor, she crossed the veranda to where Kai and a slender young man that was a foot taller than him were glaring daggers at each other. "Brothers..." She muttered tiredly under her breath as she stopped right next to Kai, quickly placing her hand on his arm to calm him down. "Fancy meeting you here Jack."

Jack Merciless scowled upon seeing that she was preventing Kai from outright attacking him. Smoothing his face so as to look more approachable, he smiled warmly at Nya. "Fancy meeting you here doll. Unfortunately I already have a date." He not so subtly stretched his arm out to wrap around a pretty young blonde. His gaze made it pretty clear to the siblings that he was trying to make Nya jealous.

Kai smirked to himself, before tucking Nya's hand into the crock of his elbow. "Pity for that poor soul you are torturing currently. I am filling in for Nya's date since her _boyfriend _is on his way to Paris for a charity concert." Nya blushed at the mention of Jay, who _was _on the way to Paris for a charity concert that the Royal Blacksmiths was holding the next day.

"Impressive. If you ever decide to dump him, call me up." Jack handed Nya a slip of paper.

"Thanks...but I'm afraid that super talented biological son of a movie star beats snobby untalented race care driver." Nya crumbled the paper, before dropping it onto a nearby tray. Jack spluttered at that, bewildered on what just happened. Kai bit back a snort, catching onto what Nya did. She told enough truth to make Jack release he was toast, without revealing too much.

...

"I can't believe you guys!" Lloyd fumed as he paced in front of Scales, occasionally glaring at the siblings. "You had one job to do! What part of remove the car before Darkley's steals it translates into Destroy the garage that it is located in thus bringing everyone's attention on you two! Unbelievable!"

"Sorry..." Kai scoffed his foot against the concrete, his eyes contrite.

Nya huffed loudly, crossing her arms as she glared at the ground. "Jack Merciless is the worst. I mean seriously? Who in their right minds _flirts_ with another girl while on a date?"

Scales suddenly straightened up, alarm flashing across his features. "Did you just say _date_?"

"Um...yeah?"

"And you mentioned earlier that young Merciless is to the the test driver for this super car, correct?"

"What are you getting at Scales?" Lloyd raised an eyebrow, confused on what was going through his old mentor's mind at the moment.

Scales glanced over at him, one eyebrow raised. "What are the chances that Darkely's has an agent that looks like his dream girl."

"His dream girl is Nya in a pretty dress and has all the makings of the perfect trophy wife." Kai cut in, confused on where this is going.

Nya rolled her eyes, before adding onto that. "He will go out with other, pretty, girls in an attempt to make me jealous. Like how yesterday he had a pretty blonde with him."

"By chance did this pretty blonde as you put it have a small tattoo on the side of her face in the shape of a racecar?" Scales appeared to be getting tenser by the minute.

"Yes... she's a Darkley's agent isn't she?" Kai groaned, running his hands through his hair.

Lloyd jumped up, his expression stern. "Go check on him. Make sure that the car doesn't go anywhere. If it does... summon the dragons."

...

Lloyd allowed himself to freefall from the getaway blimp, closing his eyes as he allowed the sensation of the freefall wash over him. Snapping his eyes open, he quickly summoned a large green dragon, slowing his descent instantly. Landing on one of the many rooftops, the one with the recently recovered super car, he dropped the apparition of the dragon, landing on both feet.

"Well, that just happened. Nya? Kai? You guys okay over there?" Lloyd turned to face the car, just as both doors swung open.

Kai and Nya stepped out of the car, grins in place. "Now this is what I can a good day at work!"

"Glad to know that your fine." Lloyd sighed with relief.

_"Excuse me? Lloyd? Now that the car has been secured... I have a lead in Moscow."_ Zane's voice crackled over their earpieces, reminding them that there was no real rest with their work.

"Come on... Scales with me. Kai, Nya? Go back to the new HQ and help Zane fix it up some more." Lloyd issued out a few orders, even as he walked over to the edge of the roof. He had work to do still...


End file.
